Covenant doctor: Consider fertility before beginning cancer treatment in children

By Karen Michael A-J Media

Thursday

Sep 6, 2018 at 11:19 AMSep 6, 2018 at 3:10 PM

A family may have a lot of concerns when a child is diagnosed with cancer, but one Covenant Health physician wants to make sure they know about options that may improve their child's life decades after treatment and recovery.

It's important that before any treatment options start, families talk about fertility, according to Dr. Ryan Owen, a urologist and a male fertility specialist with Covenant Health.

"Kids and their families, at the time of a cancer diagnosis, are understandably emotionally distraught," Owen said. "To introduce an idea of fertility preservation, which is not going to take effect until possibly decades down the line, it's difficult to discuss that topic at a time of such turmoil."

But Owen said new advances in cancer treatment and technology, as well as advances in reproductive technology, affords families and doctors the opportunity to help patients well into the future.

It's not usually the cancer that can affect a patient's fertility, but the treatments and side effects of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, Owen said. Additionally, not every person is affected by this treatment.

But he said treatment can be proactive if fertility preservation is brought up prior to the start of treatment.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. In the U.S., 15,780 children under the age of 21 are diagnosed with cancer every year, according to the American Childhood Cancer Organization.

"We specialize in discussing treatment options and future fertility options after their cancer treatment. I don't think many people know about that," Owen said. "We can preserve fertility, and can expand or explore fertility options down the road from treatment."

Owen said as part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, he wants people to know that advances in medicine can help patients to overcome cancer as well as fertility issues resulting from treatment.

Most of the patients that Owen can treat are ages 12 and up.

The patients themselves may not care much about their future fertility, Owen said.

"It's very rare to find children who are looking 20 years into the future, or 15 years into the future. So we have a discussion with the child, or the young man or young woman, but the parents as well," Owen said, noting that this is a holistic, comprehensive outlook on the health of the patient.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends talking to children with cancer about fertility in age-appropriate ways, and getting assent from the child and consent from parents before proceeding with procedures to preserve fertility. ASCO also recommends that parents or guardians discuss fertility preservation with doctors before cancer treatment begins.

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